THE LEADER of Phuket's red shirts is holding a media conference on Tuesday to explain their point of view to an island that largely supports the yellow shirts.

The reason: Too much loose talk that the red shirts are planning to cause problems on Phuket during the Asean Plus Six Summit in June.

''It's just the opposite,'' said Wisuth Tangwittayaporn, who was born on Phuket and says he loves the island.

His group is named ''Phuket Protect Democracy.''

He told Phuketwan: ''We don't want to damage tourism or Phuket. We just want to protect the island.''

Khun Wisuth says he has told the leader of the red shirts in Bangkok, Arisman Phongruangrong, that he will promise the Governor of Phuket on Tuesday that there will be ''no problems'' at the Asean summit.

He did not say how many red shirts there were on Phuket, but he did say that about 10 red shirt leaders will go to meet the Governor.

Khun Wisuth said there were many people on Phuket who supported the red shirt philosophy, which some say is more openly democratic than the ''new politics'' proposed by the yellow shirts.

He said red shirt supporters included academics, lecturers and others who cared about what was happening in Thailand.

All of the red shirt leaders on Phuket agreed they did not want to cause the kind of strife that occurred in Pattaya in April, when a red shirt mob invaded a resort and ended the first attempt at the Asean Plus Six Summit before it began.

''Our aim is to protect democracy in Thailand, with HM The King as the monarch,'' Khun Wisuth said.

''We do not want the kind of damaging activities of the yellow shirts. They invaded Phuket airport in August then did the same thing in November in Bangkok.

''We want to keep Phuket safe for tourists and to promote the prosperity of the island.''

Khun Wisuth, a reporter for Inside Phuket newspaper, hopes his meeting with the Governor and the media will clear the air of rumors.

He said there were many people on Phuket who did not necessarily support the yellow shirts, and who were not the kind of people to demonstrate on the streets.

His group had found more support since the airport invasions on the island in August and in Bangkok in November, he said.

The red shirt aim was to support the principles of democracy, not in promoting former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, or his return to power, Khun Wisuth added.

''We have no intention of causing problems for Phuket or Thailand during the Asean Plus Six Summit,'' he said. ''We are Phuket people.''

Phuket is seen as a yellow shirt stronghold, with most voters traditionally supporting the current Democrat Party government.

However, thousands of people from other parts of Thailand, with perhaps different viewpoints, come to work on the island.

Official figures show there are about 320,000 registered voters and about the same number who are registered in other provinces.

To retain power, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva must win a national election, and to do that he must unite moderates from both red and yellow camps or face certain defeat.

Disquiet has been expressed about the scale of the military involvement in protecting the Asean Summit leaders, with some businesspeople concerned that too many troops and weaponry could scare off tourists.

The 10 Asean nations, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos and the Philippines, are to be joined on Phuket for the June 13-14 summit by China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.

In the context of the global downturn, this makes Asean Plus Six the most important conference in the Asia-Pacific for many years.



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